Report: Individual Health Insurance Rates Rising
June 21, 2010 – Despite federal efforts to make health insurance more affordable and expand coverage to more people, the cost of health insurance continues to rise by an average 20 percent annually, according to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.
Foundation officials today released results of their recent national health insurance survey of individuals who do not have group health insurance, and the results suggest most won’t be able to continue paying for their own health insurance without cutting costs elsewhere. A large majority – 77 percent – of those surveyed said their health insurance premiums were scheduled to increase by at least 20 percent this year. About 14 million Americans obtain their health insurance coverage through non-group policies, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The online survey, conducted in March and April among more than 1,000 adult Americans identifying themselves as “working” suggests federal lawmakers were right to attempt to reform the nation’s health care system, Kaiser officials said in a statement. But whether those changes actually will survive legal challenges remains to be seen.
“With people in the individual market being hit with average increases of 20 percent, the survey shows that the steep increases we have been reading about over the last several months are not just extreme cases,” Kaiser Family Foundation officials said in a statement. “In the vast majority of states, the nongroup market is subject to substantially less regulation than group insurance. Much will change under the new health reform law.”
Attorneys representing President Barack Obama’s administration recently requested a federal court dismiss the Commonwealth of Virginia’s formal legal challenge to the recently enacted federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli filed the legal challenge on March 23 – the same day President Obama signed the hotly contested federal health care overhaul into law. Virginia officials contend the law oversteps the federal government’s constitutional boundaries by requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance by 2014 or pay a fine. Federal officials claim the power to regulate interstate commerce gives them the legal authority to force U.S. citizens to purchase health insurance, but Cuccinelli contends people who do not purchase health insurance by definition are not engaging in interstate commerce and cannot be compelled to do so by the federal government.
Attorneys for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department say the Virginia legal challenge lacks merit, countering decisions regarding whether or not to purchase health insurance are “economic and financial” decisions that have “economic and commercial” effects falling under the purvey of the federal government’s power to regulate commerce. Although people can choose not to purchase health insurance, federal attorneys say people without health insurance still participate in the nation’s health care system. And uninsured individuals accounted for about $43 billion in health care costs passed on to others in 2008, the federal attorneys argue.
Federal attorneys also claim the Commonwealth of Virginia is not an individual and cannot challenge a lawsuit regulating individual behavior. Virginia lawmakers earlier enacted a law declaring the federal government has no legal authority to force Virginia residents to purchase health insurance.
Virginia’s legal challenge is among dozens filed by states and various organizations challenging the federal government’s legal authority to force people to purchase health insurance. Some 20 states have joined a legal challenge recently filed by Florida officials, and several law centers also have filed legal challenges.
Poll: Americans Apprehensive About Health Reform Efforts
Jan. 4, 2010 – The U.S. Senate recently approved its version of reform for the nation’s $2.5 trillion-a-year health care industry, but as federal lawmakers work out differences between the Senate and U.S. House versions of health care reform, recent polling shows Americans don’t expect much good to come of it.
The most recent national health tracking poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates only slightly more than a third of those polled actually think current health care reform efforts will leave them better off versus some 27 percent indicating they will be worse off. Another 32 percent indicated they don’t anticipate experiencing any significant effects.
The percentage saying health care reform efforts would be beneficial for them has declined from 42 percent in November saying reform efforts would help them. Also declining since the November poll is the percentage of those polled who say the United States would be better off if health care reform efforts are signed into law. Some 45 percent of those polled suggested the national would be better off if the health care bills are signed into law, down from 54 percent a month earlier. Some 31 percent of those polled said the nation would be worse off, and another 41 percent said the nation can’t afford health care reform efforts proposed by both chambers of Congress.
While those polled in general are wary of federal health care reform efforts, senior citizens in particular have become much less supportive. Nearly half of senior citizens polled in December – 48 percent – indicated the nation would be worse off if the respective health care reform bills approved in the House and Senate eventually become law. The skepticism level among senior citizens previously had topped out at 36 percent in October.
And a small majority of U.S. senior citizens polled – 52 percent – say Americans over age 65 would be worse off if reform efforts become law. Only 21 percent indicated they would be better off.
While a significant percentage of senior citizens polled say health care reform efforts would cause more harm than good for U.S. seniors, those under age 65 were more optimistic. Some 45 percent of non-senior citizens polled suggested health care reform efforts would be beneficial for senior citizens while 26 percent said U.S. seniors would be better off.
The non-profit, non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation is based in Menlo Park, California and dedicated creating and educating the American public on current health issues. The firm conducts a monthly health tracking poll to help assess Americans’ attitudes toward current events impacting health care delivery in the United States.